Smith's Bible Dictionary

N

Naam — New Year

Naam

Na’am (pleasantness), one of the sons of Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 1 Chronicles 4:15. (b.c. about 1451–1420.)

1. One of the four women whose names are preserved in the records of the world before the flood; all except Eve being Cainites. She was daughter of Lamech by his wife Zillah, and sister, as is expressly mentioned, to Tubal-cain. Genesis 4:22 only. (b.c. about 3550.)

2. Mother of King Rehoboam. 1 Kings 14:21, 1 Kings 14:31; 2 Chronicles 12:13. In each of these passages she is distinguished by the title “the (not ‘an,’ as in DAV) Ammonite.” She was therefore one of the foreign women whom Solomon took into his establishment. 1 Kings 11:1. (b.c. 1015–975.)

Naamah

Na’amah, one of the towns of Judah in the district of the lowland or Shefelah. Joshua 15:41. Capt. Warren, in Report of Palestine Exploration Fund, 1871, locates it at Naameh, six miles northeast of Yebna.

Naaman

Na’aman (pleasantness).

1. “Naaman the Syrian.” Luke 4:27. Naaman was commander-in-chief of the army of Syria, and was nearest to the person of the king, Ben-hadad II, whom he accompanied officially and supported when he went to worship in the temple of Rimmon, 2 Kings 5:18, at Damascus, the capital. (b.c. 885.) A Jewish tradition at least as old as the time of Josephus, and which may very well be a genuine one, identifies him with the archer whose arrow, whether at random or not, struck Ahab with his mortal wound, and thus “gave deliverance to Syria.” The expression in 2 Kings 5:1 is remarkable—“because that by him Jehovah had given deliverance to Syria.” The most natural explanation perhaps is that Naaman, in delivering his country, had killed one who was the enemy of Jehovah not less than he was of Syria. Whatever the particular exploit referred to was, it had given Naaman a great position at the court of Ben-hadad. Naaman was afflicted with a leprosy of the white kind which had hitherto defied cure. A little Israelitish captive maiden tells him of the fame and skill of Elisha, and he is cured by him by following his simple directions to bathe in the Jordan seven times. See 2 Kings 5:14. His first business after his cure is to thank his benefactor and gratefully acknowledge the power of the God of Israel, and promise “henceforth to offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord.” How long Naaman lived to continue a worshipper of Jehovah while assisting officially at the worship of Rimmon we are not told; (“but his memory is perpetuated by a leper hospital which occupies the traditional site of his house in Damascus, on the banks of the Abana.”—Schaff.)

2. One of the family of Benjamin who came down to Egypt with Jacob, as read in Genesis 46:21. He was the son of Bela, and head of the family of the Naamites. Numbers 26:40; 1 Chronicles 8:3, 1 Chronicles 8:4. (b.c. 1706.)

Naamathite

Na’amathite, the gentilic name of one of Job’s friends, Zophar the Naamathite. Job 2:11; Job 11:1; Job 20:1; Job 42:9. There is no other trace of this name in the Bible, and the town whence it is derived is unknown. (But as Uz was in Arabia, probably the Naamah where he lived was on the Arabian borders of Syria.)

Naamites The

Na’amites, The, the family descended from Naaman, the grandson of Benjamin. Numbers 26:40 only.

Naarah

Na’arah (a maiden), the second wife of Ashur; a descendant of Judah. 1 Chronicles 4:5, 1 Chronicles 4:6.

Naara-i

Na’ara-i (handmaid), one of the valiant men of David’s armies. 1 Chronicles 11:37. In 1 Chron. he is called the son of Ezbai, but in 2 Samuel 23:35 he appears as “Paarai the Arbite.” Kennicott decides that the former is correct. (b.c. about 1015.)

Naaran

Na’aran (juvenile), a city of Ephraim, which in a very ancient record, 1 Chronicles 7:28, is mentioned as the eastern limit of the tribe. It is very probably identical with Naarath, or more accurately Naarah.

Naarath

Na’arath (juvenile) (the Hebrew is equivalent to Naarah, which is therefore the real form of the name), a place named Joshua 16:7 only as one of the landmarks on the southern boundary of Ephraim. It appears to have lain between Ataroth and Jericho, in the Jordan valley. Eusebius and Jerome speak of it as if well known to them—“Naorath, a small village of the Jews, five miles from Jericho.”

Na-ashon

Na-ash’on. [NAHSHON.]

Na-asson

Na-as’son (enchanter), the Greek form of the name NAHSHON. Matthew 1:4; Luke 3:32, only.

Nabal

Na’bal (fool) was a sheepmaster on the confines of Judea and the desert, in that part of the country which bore from its great conqueror the name of Caleb. 1 Samuel 25:3; 1 Samuel 30:14. (b.c. about 1055.) His residence was on the southern Carmel, in the pasture lands of Maon. His wealth, as might be expected from his abode, consisted chiefly of sheep and goats. It was the custom of the shepherds to drive them into the wild downs on the slopes of Carmel; and it was whilst they were on one of these pastoral excursions that they met a band of outlaws, who showed them unexpected kindness, protecting them by day and night, and never themselves committing any depredations. 1 Samuel 25:7, 1 Samuel 25:15, 1 Samuel 25:16. Once a year there was a grand banquet on Carmel, “like the feast of a king.” ch. 1 Samuel 25:36. It was on one of these occasions that ten youths from the chief of the freebooters approached Nabal, enumerated the services of their master, and ended by claiming, with a mixture of courtesy and defiance characteristic of the East, “whatsoever cometh into thy hand for thy servants and for thy son David.” The great sheepmaster peremptorily refused. The moment that the messengers were gone, the shepherds that stood by perceived the danger that their master and themselves would incur. To Nabal himself they durst not speak. ch. 1 Samuel 25:17. To his wife, as to the good angel of the household, one of the shepherds told the state of affairs. She, with the offerings usual on such occasions, with her attendants running before her, rode down the hill toward David’s encampment. David had already made the fatal vow of extermination. ch. 1 Samuel 25:22. At this moment, as it would seem, Abigail appeared, threw herself on her face before him, and poured forth her petition in language which in both form and expression almost assumes the tone of poetry. She returned with the news of David’s recantation of his vow. Nabal was then at the height of his orgies, and his wife dared not communicate to him either his danger or his escape. ch. 1 Samuel 25:36. At break of day she told him both. The stupid reveller was suddenly roused to a sense of that which impended over him. “His heart died within him, and he became as a stone.” It was as if a stroke of apoplexy or paralysis had fallen upon him. Ten days he lingered, “and the Lord smote Nabal, and he died.” ch. 1 Samuel 25:38.

Naboth

Na’both (fruits), the victim of Ahab and Jezebel, was the owner of a small vineyard at Jezreel, close to the royal palace of Ahab. 1 Kings 21:1, 1 Kings 21:2. (b.c. 897.) It thus became an object of desire to the king, who offered an equivalent in money or another vineyard in exchange for this. Naboth, in the independent spirit of a Jewish landholder, refused: “The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.” Ahab was cowed by this reply; but the proud spirit of Jezebel was aroused. She took the matter into her own hands. A fast was proclaimed, as on the announcement of some impending calamity. Naboth was “set on high” in the public place of Samaria; two men of worthless character accused him of having “cursed God and the king.” He and his children, 2 Kings 9:26, were dragged out of the city and despatched the same night. The place of execution there was by the large tank or reservoir which still remains on the slope of the hill of Samaria, immediately outside the walls. The usual punishment for blasphemy was enforced: Naboth and his sons were stoned; and the blood from their wounds ran down into the waters of the tank below. For the signal retribution taken on this judicial murder—a remarkable proof of the high regard paid in the old dispensation to the claims of justice and independence—see AHAB; JEHU; JEZEBEL.

Nabuchodonosor

Nabuchodon’osor. [NEBUCHADNEZZAR.]

Nachon’s

Na’chon’s (prepared) threshingfloor, the place at which the ark had arrived in its progress from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem, when Uzzah lost his life in his too-hasty zeal for its safety. 2 Samuel 6:6. (b.c. 1042.)

Nachor

Na’chor. [NAHOR.]

Nadab

Na’dab (liberal).

1. The eldest son of Aaron and Elisheba. Exodus 6:23; Numbers 3:2. (b.c. 1490.) He, his father and brother, and seventy old men of Israel were led out from the midst of the assembled people, Exodus 24:1, and were commanded to stay and worship God “afar off,” below the lofty summit of Sinai, where Moses alone was to come near to the Lord. Subsequently, Leviticus 10:1, Nadab and his brother were struck dead before the sanctuary by fire from the Lord. Their offence was kindling the incense in their censers with “strange” fire, i.e., not taken from that which burned perpetually, Leviticus 6:13, on the altar.

2. King Jeroboam’s son, who succeeded to the throne of Israel b.c. 954, and reigned two years. 1 Kings 15:25-31. At the siege of Gibbethon a conspiracy broke out in the midst of the army, and the king was slain by Baasha, a man of Issachar.

3. A son of Shammai, 1 Chronicles 2:28, of the tribe of Judah.

4. A son of Gibeon, 1 Chronicles 8:30; 1 Chronicles 9:36, of the tribe of Benjamin.

Nagga-i

Nag’ga-i (illuminating), the true form of NAGGE, Luke 3:25, and so given in the Revised Version.

Nagge

Nag’ge, one of the ancestors of Christ. Luke 3:25. [See NAGGAI.]

Nahalal

Nahal’al, or Na’halal (pasture), one of the cities of Zebulun, given with its “suburbs” to the Merarite Levites. Joshua 21:35. It is the same which in Joshua 19:15 is inaccurately given in the DAV as Nahallal, the Hebrew being in both cases identical. Elsewhere it is called NAHALOL. Judges 1:30. It is identified with the modern Malul, a village in the plain of Esdraelon.

Nahaliel

Naha’liel (torrents of God), one of the halting-places of Israel in the latter part of their progress to Canaan. Numbers 21:19. It lay “beyond,” that is, north of, the Arnon, ver. Numbers 21:13, and between Mattanah and Bamoth, the next after Bamoth being Pisgah.

Nahalol

Na’halol. [NAHALAL.]

Naham

Na’ham (consolation), the brother of Hodiah or Jehudiah, wife of Ezra. 1 Chronicles 4:19.

Nahamani

Naham’ani (merciful), a chief man among those who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel and Jeshua. Nehemiah 7:7. (b.c. 536.)

Nahara-i

Nahar’a-i (snorter), the armor-bearer of Joab, called NAHARI in the DAV of 2 Samuel 23:37. He was a native of Beeroth. 1 Chronicles 11:39. (b.c. 1013.)

Nahari

Na’hari. The same as NAHARAI. 2 Samuel 23:37. In the DAV of 1611 the name is printed “Naharai the Berothite.”

Nahash

Na’hash (serpent).

1. King of the Ammonites who dictated to the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead that cruel alternative of the loss of their right eyes or slavery, which roused the swift wrath of Saul, and caused the destruction of the Ammonite force. 1 Samuel 11:2-11. (b.c. 1092.) “Nahash” would seem to have been the title of the king of the Ammonites rather than the name of an individual. Nahash the father of Hanun had rendered David some special and valuable service, which David was anxious for an opportunity of requiting. 2 Samuel 10:2.

2. A person mentioned once only—2 Samuel 17:25—in stating the parentage of Amasa, the commander-in-chief of Absalom’s army. Amasa is there said to have been the son of a certain Ithra by Abigail, “daughter of Nahash and sister to Zeruiah.” (b.c. before 1023.)

Nahath

Na’hath (rest).

1. One of the “dukes” of Edom, eldest son of Reuel the son of Esau. Genesis 36:13, Genesis 36:17; 1 Chronicles 1:37. (b.c. 1700.)

2. A Kohathite Levite, son of Zophai. 1 Chronicles 6:26.

3. A Levite in the reign of Hezekiah. 2 Chronicles 31:13. (b.c. 725.)

Nahbi

Nah’bi (hidden), the son of Vophsi, a Naphtalite, and one of the twelve spies. Numbers 13:14.

Nahor

Na’hor (snorting), the name of two persons in the family of Abraham.

1. His grandfather; the son of Serug and father of Terah. Genesis 11:22-25. (b.c. 2174.)

2. Grandson of the preceding, son of Terah and brother of Abraham and Haran. Genesis 11:26, Genesis 11:27. (b.c. 2000.) The order of the ages of the family of Terah is not improbably inverted in the narrative; in which case Nahor, instead of being younger than Abraham, was really older. He married Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran; and when Abraham and Lot migrated to Canaan, Nahor remained behind in the land of his birth, on the eastern side of the Euphrates.

Nahshon

Nah’shon, or Na-ash’on (enchanter), son of Amminadab, and prince of the children of Judah (as he is styled in the genealogy of Judah, 1 Chronicles 2:10) at the time of the first numbering in the wilderness. Exodus 6:23; Numbers 1:7, etc. His sister, Elisheba, was wife to Aaron, and his son, Salmon, was husband to Rahab after the taking of Jericho. He died in the wilderness, according to Numbers 26:64, Numbers 26:65. (b.c. before 1451.)

Nahum

Na’hum (consolation). Nahum, called “the Elkoshite,” is the seventh in order of the minor prophets. His personal history is quite unknown. The site of Elkosh, his native place, is disputed, some placing it in Galilee, others in Assyria. Those who maintain the latter view assume that the prophet’s parents were carried into captivity by Tiglath-pileser, and that the prophet was born at the village of Alkush, on the east bank of the Tigris, two miles north of Mosul. On the other hand, the imagery of his prophecy is such as would be natural to an inhabitant of Palestine, Nahum 1:4, to whom the rich pastures of Bashan, the vineyards of Carmel and the blossoms of Lebanon were emblems of all that was luxuriant and fertile. The language employed in ch. Nahum 1:15; Nahum 2:2 is appropriate to one who wrote for his countrymen in their native land. (McClintock and Strong come to the conclusion that Nahum was a native of Galilee, that at the captivity of the ten tribes he escaped into Judah, and prophesied in the reign of Hezekiah, 726–698.—Ed.) Prophecy of Nahum.—The date of Nahum’s prophecy can be determined with as little precision as his birthplace. It is, however, certain that the prophecy was written before the final downfall of Nineveh and its capture by the Medes and Chaldeans, cir. b.c. 625. The allusions to the Assyrian power imply that it was still unbroken. ch. Nahum 1:12; Nahum 2:13; Nahum 3:15-17. It is most probable that Nahum flourished in the latter half of the reign of Hezekiah, and wrote his prophecy either in Jerusalem or its neighborhood. The subject of the prophecy is, in accordance with the superscription, “the burden of Nineveh,” the destruction of which he predicts. As a poet Nahum occupies a high place in the first rank of Hebrew literature. His style is clear and uninvolved, though pregnant and forcible; his diction sonorous and rhythmical, the words re-echoing to the sense. Comp. Nahum 2:4; Nahum 3:3.

Nail

Nail.

1. Of finger. (a) A nail or claw of man or animal. (b) A point or style, e.g., for writing; see Jeremiah 17:1. 2. (a) A nail, Isaiah 41:7, a stake, Isaiah 33:20; also a tent-peg. Tent-pegs were usually of wood and of large size; but sometimes, as was the case with those used to fasten the curtains of the tabernacle, of metal. Exodus 27:19; Exodus 38:20. (b) A nail, primarily a point. We are told that David prepared iron for the nails to be used in the temple; and as the holy of holies was plated with gold, the nails for fastening the plates were probably of gold.

Nain

Na’in (beauty), a village of Galilee, the gate of which is made illustrious by the raising of the widow’s son. Luke 7:12. The modern Nein is situated on the northwestern edge of the “Little Hermon,” or Jebel-ed-Dûhy, where the ground falls into the plain of Esdraelon. The entrance to the place, where our Saviour met the funeral, must probably always have been up the steep ascent from the plain; and here, on the west side of the village, the rock is full of sepulchral caves.

Nain and Mount Tabor. (From an original Photograph.)

Naioth

Na’ioth (habitations), or more fully, “Naioth in Ramah,” a place of Mount Ephraim, the birthplace of Samuel and Saul, and in which Samuel and David took refuge together after the latter had made his escape from the jealous fury of Saul. 1 Samuel 19:18, 1 Samuel 19:19, 1 Samuel 19:22, 1 Samuel 19:23; 1 Samuel 20:1. It is evident from ver. 1 Samuel 19:18 that Naioth was not actually in Ramah, Samuel’s habitual residence. In its corrected form the name signifies “habitations,” and probably means the huts or dwellings of a school or college of prophets over which Samuel presided, as Elisha did over those at Gilgal and Jericho.

Names

Names.

1. Names of places.—These may be divided into two general classes—descriptive and historical. The former are such as mark some peculiarity of the locality, usually a natural one, e.g., Sharon, “plain”; Gibeah, “hill”; Pisgah, “height.” Of the second class of local names, some were given in honor of individual men, e.g., the city Enoch, Genesis 4:17, etc. More commonly, however, such names were given to perpetuate the memory of some important historic occurrence. Bethel perpetuated through all Jewish history the early revelations of God to Jacob. Genesis 28:19; Genesis 35:15. So Jehovah-jireh, Genesis 22:14; Mahanaim, Genesis 32:2; Peniel, etc. In forming compounds to serve as names of towns or other localities, some of the most common terms employed were Kir, a “wall” or “fortress”; Kirjath, “city”; En, “fountain”; Beer, “a well,” etc. The names of countries were almost universally derived from the name of the first settlers or earliest historic population.

2. Names of persons.—Among the Hebrews each person received but a single name. In the case of boys this was conferred upon the eighth day, in connection with the rite of circumcision. Luke 1:59; comp. Genesis 17:5-14. To distinguish an individual from others of the same name it was customary to add to his own proper name that of his father or ancestors. Sometimes the mother’s was used instead. Simple names in Hebrew, as in all languages, were largely borrowed from nature: e.g., Deborah, “bee”; Tamar, “a palm tree”; Jonah, “dove.” Many names of women were derived from those of men by change of termination: e.g., Hammelech, “the king”; Hammoleketh, “the queen.” The majority of compound names have special religious or social significance, being compounded either (1) with terms denoting relationship, as Abi or Ab, father, as Abihud, “father of praise,” Abimelech, “father of the king”; Ben, son, as Benoni, “son of my sorrow,” Benjamin, “son of the right hand”; or (2) nouns denoting natural life, as am, “people,” melech, “king”; or (3) with names of God, as El, “God,” and Jah or Ja, shortened from “Jehovah.” As outside the circle of Revelation, particularly among the Oriental nations, it is customary to mark one’s entrance into a new relation by a new name, in which case the acceptance of the new name involves the acknowledgment of the sovereignty of the namegiver, so the importance and new sphere assigned to the organs of Revelation in God’s kingdom are frequently indicated by a change of name. Examples of this are Abraham, Genesis 17:5; Sarah, Genesis 17:15; Israel, as the designation of the spiritual character, in place of Jacob, which designated the natural character. Genesis 32:28.

Naomi

Na’omi, or Nao’mi (my delight), the wife of Elimelech and mother-in-law of Ruth. Ruth 1:2, etc.; Ruth 2:1, etc.; Ruth 3:1; Ruth 4:3, etc. (b.c. 1363.) The name is derived from a root signifying sweetness or pleasantness. Naomi left Judea with her husband and two sons, in a time of famine, and went to the land of Moab. Here her husband and sons died; and on her return to Bethlehem she wished to be known as Mara, bitterness, instead of Naomi, sweetness.

Naphish

Na’phish (refreshment), the last but one of the sons of Ishmael. Genesis 25:15; 1 Chronicles 1:31.

Naphtali

Naph’tali (wrestling), the fifth son of Jacob; the second child borne to him by Bilhah, Rachel’s slave. His birth and the bestowal of his name are recorded in Genesis 30:8. When the census was taken at Mount Sinai the tribe of Naphtali numbered no less than 53,400 fighting men, Numbers 1:43; Numbers 2:30; but when the borders of the promised land were reached, its numbers were reduced to 45,400. Numbers 26:48-50. During the march through the wilderness Naphtali occupied a position on the north of the sacred tent with Dan and Asher. Numbers 2:25-31. In the apportionment of the land, the lot of Naphtali was enclosed on three sides by those of other tribes. On the west lay Asher, on the south Zebulun, and on the east the transjordanic Manasseh. (In the division of the kingdom Naphtali belonged to the kingdom of Israel, and later was a part of Galilee, bordering on the northwestern part of the Sea of Galilee, and including Capernaum and Bethsaida.—Ed.)

Naphtali Mount

Naph’tali, Mount, the mountainous district which formed the main part of the inheritance of Naphtali, Joshua 20:7, answering to “Mount Ephraim” in the centre and “Mount Judah” in the south of Palestine.

Naphtuhim

Naph’tuhim (border-people), a Mizraite (Egyptian) nation or tribe, mentioned only in the account of the descendants of Noah. Genesis 10:13; 1 Chronicles 1:11. If we may judge from their position in the list of the Mizraites, the Naphtuhim were probably settled, at first, either in Egypt or immediately to the west of it.

Narcissus

Narcis’sus (stupidity), a dweller at Rome, Romans 16:11, some members of whose household were known as Christians to St. Paul. Some have assumed the identity of this Narcissus with the secretary of the emperor Calduius; but this is quite uncertain.

Nard

Nard. [SPIKENARD.]

Nathan

Na’than (a giver).

1. An eminent Hebrew prophet in the reigns of David and Solomon. (b.c. 1015.) He first appears in the consultation with David about the building of the temple. 2 Samuel 7:2, 2 Samuel 7:3, 2 Samuel 7:17. He next comes forward as the reprover of David for the sin with Bath-sheba; and his famous apologue on the rich man and the ewe lamb, which is the only direct example of his prophetic power, shows it to have been of a very high order. 2 Samuel 12:1-12.

2. A son of David; one of the four who were borne to him by Bath-sheba. 1 Chronicles 3:5; comp. 1 Chronicles 14:4 and 2 Samuel 5:14.

3. Son or brother of one of the members of David’s guard. 2 Samuel 23:36; 1 Chronicles 11:38.

4. One of the head men who returned from Babylon with Ezra on his second expedition. Ezra 8:16; 1 Esdras 8:44. It is not impossible that he may be the same with the “son of Bani.” Ezra 10:39.

Nathanael

Nathan’ael (gift of God), a disciple of Jesus Christ, concerning whom, under that name at least, we learn from Scripture little more than his birthplace, Cana of Galilee, John 21:2, and his simple, truthful character. John 1:47. The name does not occur in the first three Gospels; but it is commonly believed that Nathanael and Bartholomew are the same person. The evidence for that belief is as follows: St. John, who twice mentions Nathanael, never introduces the name of Bartholomew at all. St. Matthew, Matthew 10:3, St. Mark, Mark 3:18, and St. Luke, Luke 6:14, all speak of Bartholomew, but never of Nathanael. It was Philip who first brought Nathanael to Jesus, just as Andrew had brought his brother Simon.

Nathan-melech

Na’than-me’lech (the gift of the king), a eunuch (DAV “chamberlain”) in the court of Josiah. 2 Kings 23:11. (b.c. 628.)

Naum

Na’um (consolation), son of Esli and father of Amos, in the genealogy of Christ, Luke 3:25; about contemporary with the high priesthood of Jason and the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes. (b.c. 175.)

Nave

Nave (Heb. gao), anything convex or arched, as the boss of a shield, Job 15:26; the eyebrows, Leviticus 14:9; an eminent place. Ezekiel 16:31. It is rendered once only in the plural, “naves,” 1 Kings 7:33, meaning the centres of the wheels in which the spokes are inserted, i.e., the hubs. In Ezekiel 1:18 it is rendered twice “rings,” and margin “strakes,” an old word apparently used for the nave (hub) of a wheel and also more probably for the felloe or the tire, as making the streak or stroke upon the ground.

Nazarene

Nazarene’, an inhabitant of Nazareth. This appellative is applied to Jesus in many passages in the New Testament. This name, made striking in so many ways, and which, if first given to scorn, was adopted and gloried in by the disciples, we are told in Matthew 2:23 possesses a prophetic significance. Its application to Jesus, in consequence of the providential arrangements by which his parents were led to take up their abode in Nazareth, was the filling out of the predictions in which the promised Messiah is described as a nêtser, i.e., a shoot, sprout, of Jesse, a humble and despised descendant of the decayed royal family. Once, Acts 24:5, the term Nazarenes is applied to the followers of Jesus by way of contempt. The name still exists in Arabic as the ordinary designation of Christians.

Nazareth

Naz’areth (the guarded one), the ordinary residence of our Saviour, is not mentioned in the Old Testament, but occurs first in Matthew 2:23. It derives its celebrity from its connection with the history of Christ, and in that respect has a hold on the imagination and feelings of men which it shares only with Jerusalem and Bethlehem. It is situated among the hills which constitute the south ridges of Lebanon, just before they sink down into the plain of Esdraelon. (Mr. Merrill, in “Galilee in the Time of Christ” (1881), represents Nazreth in Christ’s time as a city (so always called in the New Testament) of 15,000 to 20,000 inhabitants, of some importance and considerable antiquity, and not so insignificant and mean as has been represented.—Ed.) Of the identification of the ancient site there can be no doubt. The name of the present village is en-Nâzirah, the same, therefore, as of old; it is formed on a hill or mountain, Luke 4:29; it is within the limits of the province of Galilee, Mark 1:9; it is near Cana, according to the implication in John 2:1, John 2:2, John 2:11; a precipice exists in the neighborhood. Luke 4:29. The modern Nazareth belongs to the better class of eastern villages. It has a population of 3000 or 4000; a few are Mohammedans, the rest Latin and Greek Christians. (Near this town Napoleon once encamped (1799), after the battle of Mount Tabor.) The origin of the disrepute in which Nazareth stood, John 1:47, is not certainly known. All the inhabitants of Galilee were looked upon with contempt by the people of Judea because they spoke a ruder dialect, were less cultivated, and were more exposed by their position to contact with the heathen. But Nazareth labored under a special opprobrium, for it was a Galilean and not a southern Jew who asked the reproachful question whether “any good thing” could come from that source. Above the town are several rocky ledges, over which a person could not be thrown without almost certain destruction. There is one very remarkable precipice, almost perpendicular and forty or fifty feet high, near the Maronite church, which may well be supposed to be the identical one over which has infuriated fellow townsmen attempted to hurl Jesus.

Nazareth.

Nazarite

Naz’arite, more properly Naz’irite (one separated), one of either sex who was bound by a vow of a peculiar kind to be set apart from others for the service of God. The obligation was either for life or for a defined time. There is no notice in the Pentateuch of Nazarites for life; but the regulations for the vow of a Nazarite of days are given Numbers 6:1-21. The Nazarite, during the term of his consecration, was bound to abstain from wine, grapes, with every production of the vine, and from every kind of intoxicating drink. He was forbidden to cut the hair of his head, or to approach any dead body, even that of his nearest relation. When the period of his vow was fulfilled, he was brought to the door of the tabernacle, and was required to offer a he lamb for a burnt offering, a ewe lamb for a sin offering, and a ram for a peace offering, with the usual accompaniments of peace offerings, Leviticus 7:12, Leviticus 7:13, and of the offering made at the consecration of priests. Exodus 29:2; Numbers 6:15. He brought also a meat offering and a drink offering, which appear to have been presented by themselves as a distinct act of service. ver. Numbers 6:17. He was to cut off the hair of “the head of his separation” (that is, the hair which had grown during the period of his consecration) at the door of the tabernacle, and to put it into the fire under the sacrifice on the altar. Of the Nazarites for life three are mentioned in the Scriptures—Samson, Samuel, and St. John the Baptist. The only one of these actually called a Nazarite is Samson. We do not know whether the vow for life was ever voluntarily taken by the individual. In all the cases mentioned in the sacred history, it was made by the parents before the birth of the Nazarite himself. The consecration of the Nazarite bore a striking resemblance to that of the high priest. Leviticus 21:10-12. The meaning of the Nazarite vow has been regarded in different lights. It may be regarded as an act of self-sacrifice. That it was essentially a sacrifice of the person to the Lord is obviously in accordance with the terms of the law. Numbers 6:2. As the Nazarite was a witness for the straitness of the law, as distinguished from the freedom of the gospel, his sacrifice of himself was a submission to the letter of the rule. Its outward manifestations were restraints and eccentricities. The man was separated from his brethren that he might be peculiarly devoted to the Lord. This was consistent with the purpose of divine wisdom for the time for which it was ordained.

Neah

Ne’ah (shaking), a place which was one of the landmarks on the boundary of Zebulun. Joshua 19:13 only. It has not yet been certainly identified.

Ne-apolis

Ne-ap’olis (new city) is the place in northern Greece where Paul and his associates first landed in Europe, Acts 16:11, where, no doubt, he landed also on his second visit to Macedonia, Acts 20:1, and whence certainly he embarked on his last journey through that province to Troas and Jerusalem. Acts 20:6. Philippi being an inland town, Neapolis was evidently the port, and is represented by the present Kavalla. (Kavalla is a city of 5000 or 6000 inhabitants, Greeks and Turks. Neapolis was situated within the bounds of Thrace, ten miles from Philippi, on a high rocky promontory jutting out into the Ægean Sea, while a temple of Diana crowned the hill-top.—Ed.)

Neapolis and the Temple of Diana.

Ne-ariah

Ne-ari’ah (servant of Jehovah).

1. One of the six sons of Shemaiah in the line of the royal family of Judah after the captivity. 1 Chronicles 3:22, 1 Chronicles 3:23. (b.c. about 350.)

2. A son of Ishi, and one of the captains of the 500 Simeonites who, in the days of Hezekiah, drove out the Amazlekites from Mount Seir. 1 Chronicles 4:42. (b.c. 715.)

Nebai

Neba’i (fruitful), a family of the heads of the people who signed the covenant with Nehemiah. Nehemiah 10:19.

Nebaioth Nebajoth

Neba’ioth, Neba’joth (heights), the “first-born of Ishmael,” Genesis 25:13; 1 Chronicles 1:29 (b.c. about 1850), and father of a pastoral tribe named after him, the “rams of Nebaioth” being mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 60:7, with the flocks of Kedar. From the days of Jerome this people had been identified with the Nabathæans of Greek and Roman history. Petra was their capital. (They first settled in the country southeast of Palestine, and wandered gradually in search of pasturage till they came to Kedar, of which Isaiah speaks. Probably the Nebaioth of Arabia Petrea were, as M. Quatremère argues, the same people as the Nebat of Chaldea.—McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia.)

Neballat

Nebal’lat (hidden folly), a town of Benjamin, one of those which the Benjamites reoccupied after the captivity. Nehemiah 11:34.

Nebat

Ne’bat (aspect), the father of Jeroboam, 1 Kings 11:26; 1 Kings 12:2, 1 Kings 12:15, etc., is described as an Ephrathite or Ephraimite of Zereda. (b.c. about 1000.)

Nebo

Ne’bo (prophet), Mount, the mountain from which Moses took his first and last view of the promised land. Deuteronomy 32:49; Deuteronomy 34:1. It is described as in the land of Moab, facing Jericho; the head or summit of a mountain called Pisgah, which again seems to have formed a portion of the general range of Abarim. (Notwithstanding the minuteness of this description, it is only recently that any one has succeeded in pointing out any spot which answers to Nebo. Tristram identifies it with a peak (Jebel Nebbah) of the Abarim or Moab mountains, about three miles southwest of Heshbân (Heshbon) and about a mile and a half due west of Baal-meon. “It overlooks the mouth of the Jordan, over against Jericho,” Deuteronomy 34:1, and the gentle slopes of its sides may well answer to the “field of Zophim.” Numbers 23:14. Jebel Nebbah is 2683 feet high. It is not an isolated peak, but one of a succession of bare turf-clad eminences, so linked together that the depressions between them were mere hollows rather than valleys. It commands a wide prospect. Prof. Paine, of the American Exploration Society, contends that Jebel Nebbah, the highest point of the range, is Mount Nebo, that Jebel Siaghah, the extreme headland of the hill, is Mount Pisgah, and that “the mountains of Abarim” are the cliffs west of these points, and descending toward the Dead Sea. Probably the whole mountain or range was called sometimes by the name of one peak and sometimes by that of another, as is frequently the case with mountains now.—Ed.)

Nebo

Ne’bo.

1. A town of Reuben on the east side of Jordan. Numbers 32:3, Numbers 32:38. In the remarkable prophecy adopted by Isaiah, Isaiah 15:2, and Jeremiah, Jeremiah 48:1, Jeremiah 48:22, concerning Moab, Nebo is mentioned in the same connection as before, but in the hands of Moab. Eusebius and Jerome identify it with Nobah or Kenath, and place it eight miles south of Heshbon, where the ruins of el-Habis appear to stand at present. (Prof. Paine identifies it with some ruins on Mount Nebo, a mile south of its summit, and Dr. Robinson seems to agree with this.—Ed.)

2. The children of Nebo returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2:29; Ezra 10:43; Nehemiah 7:33. The name occurs between Bethel and Ai and Lydda, which implies that it was situated in the territory of Benjamin to the northwest of Jerusalem. This is possibly the modern Beit-Nûbah, about 12 miles northwest by west of Jerusalem, 8 from Lydda.

3. Nebo, which occurs both in Isaiah, Isaiah 46:1, and Jeremiah, Jeremiah 48:1, as the name of a Chaldean god, is a well-known deity of the Babylonians and Assyrians. He was the god who presided over learning and letters. His general character corresponds to that of the Egyptian Thoth, the Greek Hermes and the Latin Mercury. Astronomically he is identified with the planet nearest the sun. In Babylonia Nebo held a prominent place from an early time. The ancient town of Borsippa was especially under his protection, and the great temple here, the modern Birs-Nimrûd, was dedicated to him from a very remote age. He was the tutelar god of the most important Babylonian kings, in whose names the word Nabu or Nebo appears as an element.

Nebo.

Nebuchadnezzar

Nebuchadnez’zar, or Nebuchadrez’zar (may Nebo protect the crown), was the greatest and most powerful of the Babylonian kings. His name is explained to mean “Nebo is the protector against misfortune.” He was the son and successor of Nabopolassar, the founder of the Babylonian empire. In the lifetime of his father, Nebuchadnezzar led an army against Pharaoh-necho, king of Egypt, defeated him at Carchemish, b.c. 605, in a great battle, Jeremiah 46:2-12, recovered Cœle-Syria, Phœnicia and Palestine, took Jerusalem, Daniel 1:1, Daniel 1:2, pressed forward to Egypt, and was engaged in

Cameo of Nebuchadnezzar. that country or upon its borders when intelligence arrived which recalled him hastily to Babylon. Nabopolassar, after reigning twenty-one years, had died and the throne was vacant. In alarm about the succession Nebuchadnezzar returned to the capital, accompanied only by his light troops; and crossing the desert, probably by way of Tadmor or Palmyra,

Inscribed Brick of Nebuchadnezzar. reached Babylon before any disturbance had arisen, and entered peaceably on his kingdom, b.c. 604. Within three years of Nebuchadnezzar’s first expedition into Syria and Palestine, disaffection again showed itself in those countries. Jehoiakim, who, although threatened at first with captivity, 2 Chronicles 36:6, had been finally maintained on the throne as a Babylonian vassal, after three years of service “turned and rebelled” against his suzerain, probably trusting to be supported by Egypt. 2 Kings 24:1. Not long afterward Phœnicia seems to have broken into revolt, and the Chaldean monarch once more took the field in person, and marched first of all against Tyre. Having invested that city and left a portion of his army there to continue the siege, he proceeded against Jerusalem, which submitted without a struggle. According to Josephus, who is here our chief authority, Nebuchadnezzar punished Jehoiakim with death, comp. Jeremiah 22:18, Jeremiah 22:19 and Jeremiah 36:30, but placed his son Jehoiachin upon the throne. Jehoiachin reigned only three months: for, on his showing symptoms of disaffection, Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jerusalem for the third time, deposed the young prince (whom he carried to Babylon, together with a large portion of the population of the city and the chief of the temple treasures), and made his uncle, Zedekiah, king in his room. Tyre still held out; and it was not till the thirteenth year from the time of its first investment that the city of merchants fell, b.c. 585. Ere this happened, Jerusalem had been totally destroyed. Nebuchadnezzar had commenced the final siege of Jerusalem in the ninth year of Zedekiah—his own seventeenth year (b.c. 588)—and took it two years later, b.c. 586. Zedekiah escaped from the city, but was captured near Jericho, Jeremiah 39:5, and brought to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah in the territory of Hamath, where his eyes were put out by the king’s order, while his sons and his chief nobles were slain. Nebuchadnezzar then returned to Babylon with Zedekiah, whom he imprisoned for the remainder of his life. The military successes of Nebuchadnezzar cannot be traced minutely beyond this point. It may be gathered from the prophetical Scriptures and from Josephus that the conquest of Jerusalem was rapidly followed by the fall of Tyre and the complete submission of Phœnicia, Ezekiel 26-28; after which the Babylonians carried their arms into Egypt, and inflicted severe injuries on that fertile country. Jeremiah 46:13-26; Ezekiel 29:2-20. We are told that the first care of Nebuchadnezzar, on obtaining quiet possession of his kingdom after the first Syrian expedition, was to rebuild the temple of Bel (Bel-Merodach) at Babylon out of the spoils of the Syrian war. He next proceeded to strengthen and beautify the city, which he renovated throughout and surrounded with several lines of fortifications, himself adding one entirely new quarter. Having finished the walls and adorned the gates magnificently, he constructed a new palace. In the grounds of this palace he formed the celebrated “hanging garden,” which the Greeks placed among the seven wonders of the world. But he did not confine his efforts to the ornamentation and improvement of his capital. Throughout the empire, at Borsippa, Sippara, Cutha, Chilmad, Duraba, Teredon, and a multitude of other places, he built or rebuilt cities, repaired temples, constructed quays, reservoirs, canals and aqueducts, on a scale of grandeur and magnificence surpassing everything of the kind recorded in history, unless it be the constructions of one or two of the greatest Egyptian monarchs. The wealth, greatness, and general prosperity of Nebuchadnezzar are strikingly placed before us in the book of Daniel. Toward the close of his reign the glory of Nebuchadnezzar suffered a temporary eclipse. As a punishment for his pride and vanity, that strange form of madness was sent upon him which the Greeks called Lycanthropy, wherein the sufferer imagines himself a beast, and, quitting the haunts of men, insists on leading the life of a beast. Daniel 4:33. (This strange malady is thought by some to receive illustration from an inscription; and historians place at this period the reign of a queen to whom are ascribed the works which by others are declared to be Nebuchadnezzar’s. Probably his favorite wife was practically at the head of affairs during the malady of her husband. Other historians, Eusebius and Berosus, also confirm the account. See Rawlinson’s “Historical Illustrations.”—Ed.) After an interval of four or perhaps seven years, Daniel 4:16, Nebuchadnezzar’s malady left him. We are told that “his reason returned, and for the glory of his kingdom his honor and brightness returned”; and he “was established in his kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to him.” Daniel 4:36. He died in the year b.c. 561, at an advanced age (eighty-three or eighty-four), having reigned forty-three years. A son, Evil-merodach, succeeded him.

Nebushasban

Nebushas’ban (Nebo saves me), one of the officers of Nebuchadnezzar at the time of the capture of Jerusalem. He was Rab-saris, i.e., chief of the eunuchs. Jeremiah 39:13. Nebushasban’s office and title were the same as those of Ashpenaz, Daniel 1:3, whom he probably succeeded.

Nebuzar-adan

Nebuzar-a’dan (chief whom Nebo favors), the Rab-tabbachim, i.e., chief of the slaughterers (DAV “captain of the guard”), a high officer in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. On the capture of Jerusalem he was left by Nebuchadnezzar in charge of the city. Comp. Jeremiah 39:11. He seems to have quitted Judea when he took down the chief people of Jerusalem to his master at Riblah. 2 Kings 25:18-20. In four years he again appeared. Jeremiah 52:30. Nebuchadnezzar in his twenty-third year made a descent on the regions east of Jordan, including the Ammonites and Moabites, who escaped when Jerusalem was destroyed. Thence he proceeded to Egypt, and, either on the way thither or on the return, Nebuzar-adan again passed through the country and carried off more captives. Jeremiah 52:30.

Necho

Ne’cho (lame). 2 Chronicles 35:20, 2 Chronicles 35:22; 2 Chronicles 36:4. [PHARAOH-NECHO.]

Nedabiah

Nedabi’ah (whom Jehovah impels), apparently one of the sons of Jeconiah or Jehoiachin, king of Judah. 1 Chronicles 3:18.

Neginah

Neginah (stringed instruments), the singular of Neginoth. It occurs in the title of Psalm 61. It is the general term by which all stringed instruments are described. “The chief musician on Neginoth” was, therefore, the conductor of that portion of the temple choir who played upon the stringed instruments, and who are mentioned in Psalm 68:25.

Neginoth

Neginoth. [NEGINAH.]

Nehelamite The

Nehel’amite, The, the designation of a man named Shemaiah, a false prophet, who went with the captivity to Babylon. Jeremiah 29:24, Jeremiah 29:31, Jeremiah 29:32. The name is no doubt formed from that either of Shemaiah’s native place or the progenitor of his family; which of the two is uncertain.

Nehemiah

Nehemi’ah (consolation of the Lord).

1. Son of Hachaliah, and apparently of the tribe of Judah. All that we know certainly concerning him is contained in the book which bears his name. We first find him at Shushan, the winter residence of the kings of Persia, in high office as the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes Longimanus. In the twentieth year of the king’s reign, i.e., b.c. 445, certain Jews arrived from Judea, and gave Nehemiah a deplorable account of the state of Jerusalem. He immediately conceived the idea of going to Jerusalem to endeavor to better their state, and obtained the king’s consent to his mission. Having received his appointment as governor of Judea, he started upon his journey, being under promise to return to Persia within a given time. Nehemiah’s great work was rebuilding, for the first time since their destruction by Nebuzar-adan, the walls of Jerusalem, and restoring that city to its former state and dignity as a fortified town. To this great object therefore Nehemiah directed his whole energies without an hour’s unnecessary delay. In a wonderfully short time the walls seemed to emerge from the heaps of burnt rubbish, and to encircle the city as in the days of old. It soon became apparent how wisely Nehemiah had acted in hastening on the work. On his very first arrival, as governor, Sanballat and Tobiah had given unequivocal proof of their mortification at his appointment; but when the restoration was seen to be rapidly progressing, their indignation knew no bounds. They made a great conspiracy to fall upon the builders with an armed force and put a stop to the undertaking. The project was defeated by the vigilance and prudence of Nehemiah. Various stratagems were then resorted to in order to get Nehemiah away from Jerusalem, and if possible to take his life; but that which most nearly succeeded was the attempt to bring him into suspicion with the king of Persia, as if he intended to set himself up as an independent king as soon as the walls were completed. The artful letter of Sanballat so far wrought upon Artaxerxes that he issued a decree stopping the work till further orders. It is probable that at the same time he recalled Nehemiah, or perhaps his leave of absence had previously expired. But after a delay, perhaps of several years, he was permitted to return to Jerusalem and to crown his work by repairing the temple and dedicating the walls. During his government Nehemiah firmly repressed the exactions of the nobles and the usury of the rich, and rescued the poor Jews from spoliation and slavery. He refused to receive his lawful allowance as governor from the people, in consideration of their poverty, during the whole twelve years that he was in office, but kept at his own charge a table for 150 Jews, at which any who returned from captivity were welcome. He made most careful provision for the maintenance of the ministering priests and Levites, and for the due and constant celebration of divine worship. He insisted upon the sanctity of the precincts of the temple being preserved inviolable, and peremptorily ejected the powerful Tobiah from one of the chambers which Eliashib had assigned to him. With no less firmness and impartiality he expelled from all sacred functions those of the high priest’s family who had contracted heathen marriages, and rebuked and punished those of the common people who had likewise intermarried with foreigners; and lastly, he provided for keeping holy the Sabbath day, which was shamefully profaned by many, both Jews and foreign merchants, and by his resolute conduct succeeded in repressing the lawless traffic on the day of rest. Beyond the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, to which Nehemiah’s own narrative leads us, we have no account of him whatever.

2. One of the leaders of the first expedition from Babylon to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel. Ezra 2:2; Nehemiah 7:7.

3. Son of Azbuk and ruler of the half part of Beth-zur, who helped to repair the wall of Jerusalem. Nehemiah 3:16.

Nehemiah The book of

Nehemi’ah, The book of, like the preceding one of Ezra, is clearly and certainly not all by the same hand. [EZRA, BOOK OF.] By far the most important portion, indeed, is the work of Nehemiah; but other portions are either extracts from various chronicles and registers or supplementary narratives and reflections, some apparently by Ezra, others, perhaps, the work of the same person who inserted the latest genealogical extracts from the public chronicles. The main history contained in the book of Nehemiah covers about twelve years, viz., from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, i.e., from b.c. 445 to 433. The whole narrative gives us a graphic and interesting account of the state of Jerusalem and the returned captives in the writer’s times, and, incidentally, of the nature of the Persian government and the condition of its remote provinces. The book of Nehemiah has always had an undisputed place in the Canon, being included by the Hebrews under the general head of the book of Ezra, and, as Jerome tells us in the Prolog. Gal., by the Greeks and Latins under the name of the second book of Ezra.

Nehiloth

Nehiloth. The title of Psalm 5 in the DAV is rendered “To the chief musician upon Nehiloth.” It is most likely that nehiloth is the general term for perforated wind-instruments of all kinds, as neginoth denotes all manner of stringed instruments.

Nehum

Ne’hum (consolation), one of those who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel. Nehemiah 7:7.

Nehushta

Nehush’ta (brass), the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem, wife of Jehoiakim and mother of Jehoiachin, kings of Judah. 2 Kings 24:8. (b.c. 616.)

Nehushtan

Nehush’tan (a thing of brass), the name by which the brazen serpent made by Moses in the wilderness, Numbers 21:9, was worshipped in the time of Hezekiah. 2 Kings 18:4. It is evident that our translators by their rendering “and he called it Nehushtan” understood that the subject of the sentence is Hezekiah, and that when he destroyed the brazen serpent he gave it the name Nehushtan, “a brazen thing,” in token of his utter contempt. But it is better to understand the Hebrew as referring to the name by which the serpent was generally known, the subject of the verb being indefinite—“and one called it ‘Nehushtan.’ ”

Nei-el

Ne’i-el (moved by God), a place which formed one of the landmarks of the boundary of the tribe of Asher. Joshua 19:27 only. It occurs between Jiphthahel and Cabul. If the former of these be identified with Jefát, and the latter with Kabûl, eight or nine miles east-southeast of Akka, then Neiel may possibly be represented by Mi’ar, a village conspicuously placed on a lofty mountain brow, just halfway between the two.

Nekeb

Ne’keb (cavern), one of the towns on the boundary of Naphtali. Joshua 19:33. It lay between Adami and Jabneel. A great number of commentators have taken this name as being connected with the preceding.

Nekoda

Neko’da (distinguished).

1. The descendants of Nekoda returned among the Nethinim after the captivity. Ezra 2:48; Nehemiah 7:50.

2. The sons of Nekoda were among those who went up after the captivity from Tel-melah, Tel-harsa, and other places, but were unable to prove their descent from Israel. Ezra 2:60; Nehemiah 7:62.

Nemuel

Nemu’el (day of God).

1. A Reubenite, son of Eliab and eldest brother of Dathan and Abiram. Numbers 26:9.

2. The eldest son of Simeon, Numbers 26:12; 1 Chronicles 4:24, from whom were descended the family of the Nemuelites. In Genesis 46:10 he is called JEMUEL.

Nepheg

Ne’pheg (sprout).

1. One of the sons of Izhar the son of Kohath. Exodus 6:21.

2. One of David’s sons born to him in Jerusalem. 2 Samuel 5:15; 1 Chronicles 3:7; 1 Chronicles 14:6.

Nephish

Ne’phish (refreshed), an inaccurate variation (found in 1 Chronicles 5:19 only) of the name Naphish.

Nephishesim

Nephish’esim (expansions). The children of Nephishesim were among the Nethinim who returned with Zerubbabel. Nehemiah 7:52.

Nephthalim

Neph’thalim, a form of the name Naphtali. Tobit 7:3; Matthew 4:13, Matthew 4:15; Revelation 7:6.

Nephtoah

Neph’toah, or Nephto’ah (opening), The water of. The spring or source of the water or (inaccurately) waters of Nephtoah was one of the landmarks in the boundary line which separated Judah from Benjamin. Joshua 15:9; Joshua 18:15. It lay northwest of Jerusalem, in which direction it seems to have been satisfactorily identified in Ain Lifta, a spring situated a little distance above the village of the same name.

Nephusim

Nephu’sim (expansions), the same as Nephishesim, of which name according to Gesenius it is the proper form. Ezra 2:50.

Ner

Ner (a light or lamp), son of Jehiel, according to 1 Chronicles 8:33, father of Kish and Abner, and grandfather of King Saul. (b.c. 1140.) Abner was, therefore, uncle to Saul, as is expressly stated in 1 Samuel 14:50.

Nereus

Ne’reus (lamp), a Christian at Rome, saluted by St. Paul. Romans 16:15. According to tradition he was beheaded at Terracina, probably in the reign of Nerva.

Nergal

Ner’gal (hero), one of the chief Assyrian and Babylonian deities, seems to have corresponded closely to the classical Mars. 2 Kings 17:30. It is conjectured that he may represent the deified Nimrod.

Nergal-sharezer

Ner’gal-share’zer (prince of fire) occurs only in Jeremiah 39:3 and Jeremiah 39:13. There appear to have been two persons of the name among the “princes of the king of Babylon” who accompanied Nebuchadnezzar on his last expedition against Jerusalem. One of these is not marked by any additional title; but the other has the honorable distinction of Rab-mag, probably meaning chief of the Magi [see RAB-MAG], and it is to him alone that any particular interest attaches. In sacred Scripture he appears among the persons who, by command of Nebuchadnezzar, released Jeremiah from prison. Profane history gives us reason to believe that he was a personage of great importance, who not long afterward mounted the Babylonian throne. He is the same as the monarch called Neriglissar or Neriglissor, who murdered Evil-merodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, and succeeded him upon the throne. His reign lasted from b.c. 559 to b.c. 556.

Neri

Ne’ri, short form for NERIAH (Jehovah is my lamp), son of Melchi and father of Salathiel, in the genealogy of Christ.

Neriah

Neri’ah (lamp of Jehovah), the son of Maaseiah and father of Baruch and Seraiah.

Net

Net. [See FISHING.]

Nethane-el

Nethan’e-el (given of God).

1. The son of Zuar, and prince of the tribe of Issachar at the time of the exodus. Numbers 1:8; Numbers 2:5; Numbers 7:18. (b.c. 1491.)

2. The fourth son of Jesse and brother of David. 1 Chronicles 2:14.

3. A priest in the reign of David who blew the trumpet before the ark when it was brought from the house of Obededom. 1 Chronicles 15:24. (b.c. 1055.)

4. A Levite, father of Shemaiah the scribe, in the reign of David. 1 Chronicles 24:6.

5. A son of Obed-edom. 1 Chronicles 26:4.

6. One of the princes of Judah whom Jehoshaphat sent to teach in the cities of his kingdom. 2 Chronicles 17:7. (b.c. 912.)

7. A chief of the Levites in the reign of Josiah. 2 Chronicles 35:9. (b.c. 628.)

8. A priest of the family of Pashur, in the time of Ezra, who had married a foreign wife. (b.c. 458.)

9. The representative of the priestly family of Jedaiah in the time of Joiakim. Nehemiah 12:21. (b.c. 446.)

10. A Levite, of the sons of Asaph, who with his brethren played upon the musical instruments of David at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem under Ezra and Nehemiah. Nehemiah 12:36. (b.c. 446.)

Nethaniah

Nethani’ah (given of Jehovah).

1. The son of Elishama, and father of Ishmael who murdered Gedaliah. 2 Kings 25:23, 2 Kings 25:25. He was of the royal family of Judah. (b.c. 620.)

2. One of the four sons of Asaph the minstrel. 1 Chronicles 25:12. (b.c. 1015.)

3. A Levite in the reign of Jehoshaphat. 2 Chronicles 17:8. (b.c. 912.)

4. The father of Jehudi. Jeremiah 36:14. (b.c. 638.)

Nethinim

Neth’inim (given, dedicated). As applied specifically to a distinct body of men connected with the services of the temple, this name first meets us in the later books of the Old Testament—in 1 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. The word and the ideas embodied in it may, however, be traced to a much earlier period. As derived from the verb nâthan, i.e., give, set apart, dedicate, it was applied to those who were specially appointed to the liturgical offices of the tabernacle. We must not forget that the Levites were given to Aaron and his sons, i.e., to the priests as an order, and were accordingly the first Nethinim. Numbers 3:9; Numbers 8:19. At first they were the only attendants, and their work must have been laborious enough. The first conquests, however, brought them their share of the captive slaves of the Midianites, and 320 were given to them as having charge of the tabernacle, Numbers 31:47, while 32 only were assigned specially to the priests. This disposition to devolve the more laborious offices of their ritual upon slaves of another race showed itself again in the treatment of the Gibeonites. No addition to the number thus employed appears to have been made during the period of the judges, and they continued to be known by their own name as the Gibeonites. Either the massacre at Nob had involved the Gibeonites as well as the priests, 1 Samuel 22:19, or else they had fallen victims to some other outburst of Saul’s fury; and though there were survivors, 2 Samuel 21:2, the number was likely to be quite inadequate for the greater stateliness of the new worship at Jerusalem. It is to this period accordingly that the origin of the class bearing this name may be traced. The Nethinim were those “whom David and the princes appointed (Heb. gave) for the service of the Levites.” Ezra 8:20. At this time the Nethinim probably lived within the precincts of the temple, doing its rougher work and so enabling the Levites to take a higher position as the religious representatives and instructors of the people. The example set by David was followed by his successor.

Netophah

Neto’phah (distillation), a town the name of which occurs only in the catalogue of those who returned with Zerubbabel from the captivity. Ezra 2:22; Nehemiah 7:26; 1 Esdras 5:18. But, though not directly mentioned till so late a period, Netophah was really a much older place. Two of David’s guard, 1 Chronicles 27:13, 1 Chronicles 27:15, were Netophathites. The “villages of the Netophathites” were the residence of the Levites. 1 Chronicles 9:16. From another notice we learn that the particular Levites who inhabited these villages were singers. Nehemiah 12:28. To judge from Nehemiah 7:26 the town was in the neighborhood of, or closely connected with, Bethlehem.

Netophathite

Netoph’athite, an inhabitant of Netopha.

Nettle

Nettle, a well-known plant covered with minute sharp hairs, containing a poison that produces a painful, stinging sensation. It grows on neglected ground. A different Hebrew word in Job 30:7; Proverbs 24:31; Zephaniah 2:9 seems to indicate a different species.

The Nettle of Palestine.

New Moon

New Moon. The first day of the lunar month was observed as a holy day. In addition to the daily sacrifice there were offered two young bullocks, a ram and seven lambs of the first year as a burnt offering, with the proper meat offerings and drink offerings, and a kid as a sin offering. Numbers 28:11-15. As on the Sabbath, trade and handicraft work were stopped, Amos 8:5, and the temple was opened for public worship. Isaiah 66:23; Ezekiel 46:3. The trumpets were blown at the offering of the special sacrifices for the day, as on the solemn festivals. Numbers 10:10; Psalm 81:3. It was an occasion for state banquets. 1 Samuel 20:5-24. In later, if not in earlier, times fasting was intermitted at the new moons. Judith 8:6. The new moons are generally mentioned so as to show that they were regarded as a peculiar class of holy days, distinguished from the solemn feasts and the Sabbaths. 1 Chronicles 23:31; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 2 Chronicles 8:13; 2 Chronicles 31:3; Ezra 3:5; Nehemiah 10:33; Ezekiel 45:17. The seventh new moon of the religious year, being that if Tisri, commenced the civil year, and had a significance and rites of its own. It was a day of holy convocation. The religious observance of the day of the new moon may plainly be regarded as the consecration of a natural division of time.

New Testament

New Testament. It is proposed in this article to consider the text of the New Testament. The subject naturally divides itself into—I. The history of the written text; II. The history of the printed text.

I. The History of the Written Text.—

1. The early history of the apostolic writings externally, as far as it can be traced, is the same as that of other contemporary books. St. Paul, like Cicero or Pliny, often employed the services of an amanuensis, to whom he dictated his letters, affixing the salutation “with his own hand.” 1 Corinthians 16:21; 2 Thessalonians 3:17; Colossians 4:18. The original copies seem to have soon perished. 2. In the natural course of things the apostolic autographs would be likely to perish soon. The material which was commonly used for letters, the papyrus paper, to which St. John incidentally alludes, 2 John 12, comp. 3 John 13, was singularly fragile, and even the stouter kinds, likely to be used for the historical books, were not fitted to bear constant use. The papyrus fragments which have come down to the present time have been preserved under peculiar circumstances, as at Herculaneum or in the Egyptian tombs. 3. In the time of the Diocletian persecution, a.d. 303, copies of the Christian Scriptures were sufficiently numerous to furnish a special object for persecutors. Partly, perhaps, owing to the destruction thus caused, but still more from the natural effects of time, no MS of the New Testament of the first three centuries remains. But though no fragment of the New Testament of the first century still remains, the Italian and Egyptian papyri, which are of that date, give a clear notion of the caligraphy of the period. In these the text is written in columns, rudely divided, in somewhat awkward capital letters (uncials), without any punctuation or division of words; and there is no trace of accents or breathings. 4. In addition to the later MSS, the earliest versions and patristic quotations give very important testimony to the character and history of the ante-Nicene text; but till the last quarter of the second century this source of information fails us. Not only are the remains of Christian literature up to that time extremely scanty, but the practice of verbal quotation from the New Testament was not yet prevalent. As soon as definite controversies arose among Christians, the text of the New Testament assumed its true importance. 5. Several very important conclusions follow from this earliest appearance of textual criticism. It is in the first place evident that various readings existed in the books of the New Testament at a time prior to all extant authorities. History affords no trace of the pure apostolic originals. Again, from the preservation of the first variations noticed, which are often extremely minute, in one or more of the primary documents still left, we may be certain that no important changes have been made in the sacred text which we cannot now detect. 6. Passing from these isolated quotations, we find the first great witnesses to the apostolic text in the early Syriac and Latin versions, and in the rich quotations of Clement of Alexandria (†cir. a.d. 220) and Origen (a.d. 184–254). From the extant works of Origen alone no inconsiderable portion of the whole New Testament might be transcribed; and his writings are an almost inexhaustible storehouse for the history of the text. There can be no doubt that in Origen’s time the variations in the New Testament MSS were beginning to lead to the formation of specific groups of copies. 7. The most ancient MSS and versions now extant exhibit the characteristic differences which have been found to exist in different parts of the works of Origen. These cannot have had their source later than the beginning of the third century, and probably were much earlier. Bengel was the first (1734) who pointed out the affinity of certain groups of MSS, which, as he remarks, must have arisen before the first versions were made. The honor of carefully determining the relations of critical authorities for the New Testament text belongs to Griesbach. According to him two distinct recensions of the Gospels existed at the beginning of the third century—the Alexandrine and the Western. 8. From the consideration of the earliest history of the New Testament text we now pass to the era of MSS. The quotations of Dionysius Alex. (†a.d. 264), Petrus Alex. (†cir. a.d. 312), Methodius (†a.d. 311) and Eusebius (†a.d. 340) confirm the prevalence of the ancient type of text; but the public establishment of Christianity in the Roman empire necessarily led to important changes. The nominal or real adherence of the higher ranks to the Christian faith must have largely increased the demand for costly MSS. As a natural consequence the rude Hellenistic forms gave way before the current Greek, and at the same time it is reasonable to believe that smoother and fuller constructions were substituted for the rougher turns of the apostolic language. In this way the foundation of the Byzantine text was laid. Meanwhile the multiplication of copies in Africa and Syria was checked by Mohammedan conquests. 9. The appearance of the oldest MSS has been already described. The MSS of the fourth century, of which Codex Vaticanus may be taken as a type, present a close resemblance to these. The writing is in elegant continuous uncials (capitals), in three columns, without initial letters or iota subscript or adscript. A small interval serves as a simple punctuation; and there are no accents or breathings by the hand of the first writer, though these have been added subsequently. Uncial writing continued in general use till the middle of the tenth century. From the eleventh century downward cursive writing prevailed. The earliest cursive biblical MS is dated 964 a.d. The MSS of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries abound in the contractions which afterward passed into the early printed books. The oldest MSS are written on the thinnest and finest vellum; in later copies the parchment is thick and coarse. Papyrus was very rarely used after the ninth century. In the tenth century cotton paper was generally employed in Europe; and one example at least occurs of its use in the ninth century. In the twelfth century the common linen or rag paper came into use. One other kind of material requires notice—re-dressed parchment, called palimpsests. Even at a very early period the original text of a parchment MS was often erased, that the material might be used afresh. In lapse of time the original writing frequently reappeared in faint lines below the later text, and in this way many precious fragments of biblical MSS, which had been once obliterated for the transcription of other works, have been recovered. 10. The division of the Gospels into “chapters” must have come into general use some time before the fifth century. The division of the Acts and Epistles into chapters came into use at a later time. It is commonly referred to Euthalius, who, however, says that he borrowed the divisions of the Pauline Epistles from an earlier father; and there is reason to believe that the division of the Acts and Catholic Epistles which he published was originally the work of Pamphilus the martyr. The Apocalypse was divided into sections by Andreas of Cæsarea about a.d. 500. The titles of the sacred books are from their nature additions to the original text. The distinct names of the Gospels imply a collection, and the titles of the Epistles are notes by the possessors, and not addresses by the writers. 11. Very few MSS contain the whole New Testament—twenty-seven in all out of the vast mass of extant documents. Besides the MSS of the New Testament, or of parts of it, there are also lectionaries, which contain extracts arranged for the church services. 12. The number of uncial MSS remaining, though great when compared with the ancient MSS extant of other writings, is inconsiderable. Tischendorf reckons forty in the Gospels. To these must be added Cod. Sinait., which is entire; a new MS of Tischendorf, which is nearly entire; and Cod. Zacynth., which contains considerable fragments of St. Luke. In the Acts there are nine; in the Catholic Epistles five; in the Pauline Epistles fourteen; in the Apocalypse three. 13. A complete description of these MSS is given in the great critical editions of the New Testament. Here those only can be briefly noticed which are of primary importance, the first place being given to the latest-discovered and most complete Codex Sinaiticus—the Cod. Frid. Aug. of LXX at St. Petersburg, obtained by Tischendorf from the convent of St. Catherine, Mount Sinai, in 1859. The New Testament is entire, and the Epistle of Barnabas and parts of the Shepherd of Hermas are added. It is probably the oldest of the MSS of the New Testament and of the fourth century. Codex Alexandrinus (Brit. Mus.), a MS of the entire Greek Bible, with the Epistles of Clement added. It was given by Cyril Lucar, patriarch of Constantinople, to Charles I in 1628, and is now in the British Museum. It contains the whole of the New Testament, with some chasms. It was probably written in the first half of the fifth century. Codex Vaticanus (1209), a MS of the entire Greek Bible, which seems to have been in the Vatican Library almost from its commencement (cir. a.d. 1450). It contains the New Testament entire to Hebrews 9:14, καθα: the rest of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Pastoral Epistles and the Apocalypse were added in the fifteenth century. The MS is assigned to the fourth century. Codex Ephraemi rescriptus (Paris, Bibl. Imp. 9), a palimpsest MS which contains fragments of the LXX and of every part of the New Testament. In the twelfth century the original writing was effaced and some Greek writings of Ephraem Syrus were written over it. The MS was brought to Florence from the East at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and came thence to Paris with Catherine de Medici. The only entire books which have perished are 2 Thess. and 2 John. 14. The number of the cursive MSS (minuscules) in existence cannot be accurately calculated. Tischendorf catalogues about 500 of the Gospels, 200 of the Acts and Catholic Epistles, 250 of the Pauline Epistles, and a little less than 100 of the Apocalypse (exclusive of lectionaries); but this enumeration can only be accepted as a rough approximation. 15. Having surveyed in outline the history of the transmission of the written text and the chief characteristics of the MSS in which it is preserved, we are in a position to consider the extent and nature of the variations which exist in different copies. It is impossible to estimate the number of these exactly, but they cannot be less than 120,000 in all, though of these a very large proportion consists of differences of spelling and isolated aberrations of scribes, and of the remainder comparatively few alterations are sufficiently well supported to create reasonable doubt as to the final judgment. Probably there are not more than 1600–2000 places in which the true reading is a matter of uncertainty. 16. Various readings are due to different causes: some arose from accidental, others from intentional, alterations of the original text. 17. Other variations are due to errors of sight. Others may be described as errors of impression or memory. The copyist, after reading a sentence from the text before him, often failed to reproduce it exactly. Variations of order are the most frequent and very commonly the most puzzling questions of textual criticism. Examples occur in every page, almost in every verse, of the New Testament. 18. Of intentional changes some affect the expression, others the substance of the passage. 19. The number of readings which seem to have been altered for distinctly dogmatic reasons is extremely small. In spite of the great revolutions in thought, feeling, and practice through which the Christian Church passed in fifteen centuries, the copyists of the New Testament faithfully preserved, according to their ability, the sacred trust committed to them. There is not any trace of intentional revision designed to give support to current opinions. Matthew 17:21; Mark 9:29; 1 Corinthians 7:5, need scarcely be noticed. 20. The great mass of various readings are simply variations in form. There are, however, one or two greater variations of a different character. The most important of these are Mark 16; John 7:53-8:12; Romans 16:25-27. The first stands quite by itself; and there seems to be little doubt that it contains an authentic narrative, but not by the hand of St. John. The two others, taken in connection with the last chapter of St. John’s Gospel, suggest the possibility that the apostolic writings may have undergone in some cases authoritative revision. 21. Manuscripts, it must be remembered, are but one of the three sources of textual criticism. The versions and patristic quotations are scarcely less important in doubtful cases.

II. The History of the Printed Text.—The history of the printed text of the New Testament may be divided into three periods. The first of these extends from the labors of the Complutensian editors to those of Mill; the second from Mill to Scholz; the third from Lachmann to the present time. The criticism of the first period was necessarily tentative and partial: the materials available for the construction of the text were few and imperfectly known. The second period marks a great progress: the evidence of MSS, of versions, of the fathers, was collected with the greatest diligence and success; authorities were compared and classified; principles of observation and judgment were laid down. But the influence of the former period still lingered. The third period was introduced by the declaration of a new and sounder law. It was laid down that no right of possession could be pleaded against evidence. The “received” text, as such, was allowed no weight whatever. Its authority, on this view, must depend solely on critical worth. From first to last, in minute details of order and orthography, as well as in graver questions of substantial alteration, the text must be formed by a free and unfettered judgment.

The following are the earliest editions:

1. The Complutensian Polyglot.—The glory of printing the first Greek Testament is due to the princely Cardinal Ximenes. This great prelate as early as 1502 engaged the services of a number of scholars to superintend an edition of the whole Bible in the original Hebrew and Greek, with the addition of the Chaldee Targum of Onkelos, the LXX version and the Vulgate. The volume containing the New Testament was printed first, and was completed on January 10, 1514. The whole work was not finished till July 10, 1517. (It was called Complutensian because it was printed at Complutum, in Spain.—Ed.) 2. The edition of Erasmus.—The edition of Erasmus was the first published edition of the New Testament. Erasmus had paid considerable attention to the study of the New Testament, when he received an application from Froben, a printer of Basle with whom he was acquainted, to prepare a Greek text for the press. The request was made on April 17, 1515, and the whole work was finished in February, 1516. 3. The edition of Stephens.—The scene of our history now changes from Basle to Paris. In 1543, Simon de Colines (Colinæus) published a Greek text of the New Testament, corrected in about 150 places on fresh MS authority. Not long after it appeared, R. Estienne (Stephanus) published his first edition (1546), which was based on a collation of MSS in the Royal Library with the Complutensian text. 4. The editions of Beza and Elzevir.—The Greek text of Beza (dedicated to Queen Elizabeth) was printed by H. Stephens in 1565, and a second edition in 1576; but the chief edition was the third, printed in 1582, which contained readings from Codex Bezæ and Codex Claromontanus.

The literal sense of the apostolic writings must be gained in the same way as the literal sense of any other writings—by the fullest use of every appliance of scholarship, and the most complete confidence in the necessary and absolute connection of words and thoughts. No variation of phrase, no peculiarity of idiom, no change of tense, no change of order, can be neglected. The truth lies in the whole expression, and no one can presume to set aside any part as trivial or indifferent. The importance of investigating most patiently and most faithfully the literal meaning of the sacred text must be felt with tenfold force when it is remembered that the literal sense is the outward embodiment of a spiritual sense, which lies beneath and quickens every part of Holy Scripture. [BIBLE.]

New Year

New Year. [TRUMPETS, FEAST OF.]