Smith's Bible Dictionary
Rhodes — Rye
Rhodes
Rhodes (rosy), a celebrated island in the Mediterranean Sea. (It is triangular in form, 60 miles long from north to south, and about 18 wide. It is noted now, as in ancient times, for its delightful climate and the fertility of its soil. The city of Rhodes, its capital, was famous for its huge brazen statue of Apollo, called the Colossus of Rhodes. It stood at the entrance of the harbor, and was so large that ships in full sail could pass between its legs.—Ed.) Rhodes is immediately opposite the high Carian and Lycian headlands at the southwest extremity of the peninsula of Asia Minor. Its position has had much to do with its history. Its real eminence began about 400 b.c. with the founding of the city of Rhodes, at the northeast extremity of the island, which still continues to be the capital. After Alexander’s death it entered on a glorious period, its material prosperity being largely developed, and its institutions deserving and obtaining general esteem. We have notice of the Jewish residents in Rhodes in 1 Maccabees 15:23. The Romans, after the defeat of Antiochus, assigned, during some time, to Rhodes certain districts on the mainland. Its Byzantine history is again eminent. Under Constantine it was the metropolis of the “Province of the Islands.” It was the last place where the Christians of the East held out against the advancing Saracens; and subsequently it was once more famous as the home and fortress of the Knights of St. John. (It is now reduced to abject poverty. There are two cities—Rhodes the capital and Lindus—and forty or fifty villages. The population, according to Turner, is 20,000, of whom 6000 are Turks and the rest Greeks, together with a few Jews.)
Didrachm of Rhodes.
Riba-i
Ri’ba-i, or Riba’i (pleader with Jehovah), the father of Ittai the Benjamite, of Gibeah. 2 Samuel 23:29; 1 Chronicles 11:31. (b.c. before 1020.)
Riblah
Rib’lah (fertility), one of the landmarks on the eastern boundary of the land of Israel, as specified by Moses. Numbers 34:11. It seems hardly possible, without entirely disarranging the specification of the boundary, that the Riblah in question can be the same with the following.
2. Riblah in the land of Hamath, a place on the great road between Palestine and Babylonia, at which the kings of Babylonia were accustomed to remain while directing the operations of their armies in Palestine nad Phœnicia. Here Nebuchadnezzar waited while the sieges of Jerusalem and of Tyre were being conducted by his lieutenants. Jeremiah 39:5, Jeremiah 39:6; Jeremiah 52:9, Jeremiah 52:10, Jeremiah 52:26, Jeremiah 52:27; 2 Kings 25:6, 2 Kings 25:20, 2 Kings 25:21. In like manner Pharaoh-necho, after his victory over the Babylonians at Carchemish, returned to Riblah and summoned Jehoahaz from Jerusalem before him. 2 Kings 23:33. This Riblah still retains its ancient name, on the right (east) bank of the el-Asy (Orontes), upon the great road which connects Baalbek and Hums, about 35 miles northeast of the former and 20 miles southwest of the latter place.
Riddle
Riddle. It is known that all ancient nations, and especially Orientals, were fond of riddles. The riddles which the queen of Sheba came to ask of Solomon, 1 Kings 10:1; 2 Chronicles 9:1, were rather “hard questions” referring to profound inquiries. Solomon is said, however, to have been very fond of riddles. Riddles were generally proposed in verse, like the celebrated riddle of Samson. Judges 14:14-19.
Rimmon
Rim’mon (pomegranate), the name of several towns.
1. A city of Zebulun, 1 Chronicles 6:77; Nehemiah 11:29, a Levitical city, the present Rummanneh, six miles north of Nazareth.
2. A town in the southern portion of Judah, Joshua 15:3, allotted to Simeon, Joshua 19:7; 1 Chronicles 4:32; probably 13 miles southwest of Hebron.
3. Rimmon-parez (pomegranate of the breach), the name of a march-station in the wilderness. Numbers 33:19, Numbers 33:20. No place now known has been identified with it.
4. Rimmon the Rock, a cliff or inaccessible natural fastness, in which the six hundred Benjamites who escaped the slaughter of Gibeah took refuge. Judges 20:45, Judges 20:47; Judges 21:13. In the wild country which lies on the east of the central highlands of Benjamin the name is still found attached to a village perched on the summit of a conical chalky hill, visible in all directions, and commanding the whole country.
5. A Benjamite of Beeroth, the father of Rechab and Baanah, the murderers of Ish-bosheth. 2 Samuel 4:2, 2 Samuel 4:5, 2 Samuel 4:9.
Rimmon
Rim’mon, a deity worshipped by the Syrians of Damascus, where there was a temple or house of Rimmon. 2 Kings 5:18. Rimmon is perhaps the abbreviated form of Hadad-rimmon, Hadad being the sun-god of the Syrians. Combining this with the pomegranate, which was his symbol, Hadad-rimmon would then be the sun-god of the late summer, who ripens the pomegranate and other fruits.
Ring
Ring. The ring was regarded as an indispensable article of a Hebrew’s attire, inasmuch as it contained his signet. It was hence the symbol of authority. Genesis 41:42; Esther 3:10. Rings were worn not only by men, but by women. Isaiah 3:21. We may conclude from Exodus 28:11 that the rings contained a stone engraven with a device or with the owner’s name. The custom appears also to have prevailed among the Jews of the apostolic age. James 2:2.
Egyptian Weighing Rings for Money. (See Money.)
Rings and Signets.
Rinnah
Rin’nah (a shout), one of the descendants of Judah. 1 Chronicles 4:20. (b.c. 1300.)
Riphath
Ri’phath (spoken), the second son of Gomer. Genesis 10:3. The name may be identified with the Rhipæan mountains, i.e., the Carpathian range in the northeast of Dacia.
Rissah
Ris’sah (a ruin), a march-station in the wilderness. Numbers 33:21, Numbers 33:22.
Rithmah
Rith’mah (heath), a march-station in the wilderness, Numbers 33:18, Numbers 33:19, probably northeast of Hazeroth.
River
River. In the sense in which we employ the word, viz., for a perennial stream of considerable size, a river is a much rarer object in the East than in the West. With the exception of the Jordan and the Litany, the streams of the holy land are either entirely dried up in the summer months, and converted into hot lanes of glaring stones, or else reduced to very small streamlets, deeply sunk in a narrow bed, and concealed from view by a dense growth of shrubs. The perennial river is called nahar by the Hebrews. With the definite article, “the river,” it signifies invariably the Euphrates. Genesis 31:21; Exodus 23:31; Numbers 24:6; 2 Samuel 10:16, etc. It is never applied to the fleeting fugitive torrents of Palestine. The term for these is nachal, for which our translators have used promiscuously, and sometimes almost alternate, “valley,” “brook,” and “river.” No one of these words expresses the thing intended; but the term “brook” is peculiarly unhappy. Many of the wadys of Palestine are deep, abrupt chasms or rents in the solid rock of the hills, and have a savage, gloomy aspect, far removed from that of an English brook. Unfortunately our language does not contain any single word which has both the meanings of the Hebrew nachal and its Arabic equivalent wady, which can be used at once for a dry valley and for the stream which occasionally flows through it.
River of Egypt
River of Egypt.
1. The Nile. Genesis 15:18. [NILES.]
2. A desert stream on the border of Egypt, still occasionally flowing in the valley called Wâdi-l-˒Areesh. The center of the valley is occupied by the bed of this torrent, which only flows after rains, as is usual in the desert valleys. This stream is first mentioned as the point where the southern border of the promised land touched the Mediterranean, which formed its western border. Numbers 34:3-6. In the latter history we find Solomon’s kingdom extending from the “entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt,” 1 Kings 8:65, and Egypt limited in the same manner where the loss of the eastern provinces is mentioned. 2 Kings 24:7.
Rizpah
Riz’pah, concubine to King Saul, and mother of his two sons Armoni and Mephibosheth. (b.c. 1080.) The tragic story of the love and endurance with which she watched over the bodies of her two sons, who were killed by the Gibeonites, 2 Samuel 21:8-11, has made Rizpah one of the most familiar objects in the whole Bible.
Road
Road. This word occurs but once in the Authorized Version of the Bible, viz., in 1 Samuel 27:10, where it is used in the sense of “raid” or “inroad.” Where a travelled road is meant “path” or “way” is used, since the eastern roads are more like our paths.
Robbery
Robbery. Robbery has ever been one of the principal employments of the nomad tribes of the East. From the time of Ishmael to the present day the Bedouin has been a “wild man,” and a robber by trade. Genesis 16:12. The Mosaic law on the subject of theft is contained in Exodus 22. There seems no reason to suppose that the law underwent any alteration in Solomon’s time. Man-stealing was punishable with death. Exodus 21:16; Deuteronomy 24:7. Invasion of right in land was strictly forbidden. Deuteronomy 27:17; Isaiah 5:8; Micah 2:2.
Roe Roebuck
Roe, Roebuck. The Hebrew words thus translated denote some species of antelope, probably the Gazella arabica or Syria and Arabia. The gazelle was allowed as food, Deuteronomy 12:15, Deuteronomy 12:22, etc.; it is mentioned as very fleet of foot, 2 Sam. 2 Samuel 2:18; 1 Chronicles 12:8; it was hunted, Isaiah 13:14; Proverbs 6:5; it was celebrated for its loveliness. Song of Solomon 2:9, Song of Solomon 2:17; Song of Solomon 8:14.
The Wild Roe.
Rogelim
Roge’lim (fullers), the residence of Barzillai the Gileadite, 2 Samuel 17:27; 2 Samuel 19:31, in the highlands east of the Jordan.
Rohgah
Roh’gah (clamor), an Asherite, of the sons of Shamer. 1 Chronicles 7:34. (b.c. about 1490.)
Roll
Roll. A book in ancient times consisted of a single long strip of paper or parchment, which was usually kept rolled upon a stick, and was unrolled when a person wished to read it. The roll was usually written on one side only, and hence the particular notice of one that was “written within and without.” Ezekiel 2:10. The writing was arranged in columns.
Roll.
Romamti-ezer
Romam’ti-e’zer, one of the fourteen sons of Heman. 1 Chronicles 25:4, 1 Chronicles 25:31. (b.c. about 1014.)
Roman empire
Roman empire.
1. The first historic mention of Rome in the Bible is in 1 Maccabees 1:10, about the year 161 b.c. In the year 65 b.c., when Syria was made a Roman province by Pompey, the Jews were still governed by one of the Asmonæan princes. The next year Pompey himself marched an army into Judea and took Jerusalem. From this time the Jews were practically under the government of Rome. Finally, Antipater’s son, Herod the Great, was made king by Antony’s interest, b.c. 40, and confirmed in the kingdom by Augustus, b.c. 30. The Jews, however, were all this time tributaries of Rome, and their princes in reality were Roman procurators. On the banishment of Archelaus, a.d. 6, Judea became a mere appendage of the province of Syria, and was governed by a Roman procurator, who resided at Cæsarea. Such were the relations of the Jewish people to the Roman government at the time when the New Testament history begins.
2. Extent of the empire.—Cicero’s description of the Greek states and colonies as a “fringe on the skirts of barbarism” has been well applied to the Roman dominions before the conquests of Pompey and Cæsar. The Roman empire was still confined to a narrow strip encircling the Mediterranean Sea. Pompey added Asia Minor and Syria. Cæsar added Gaul. The generals of Augustus overran the northwest portion of Spain and the country between the Alps and the Danube. The boundaries of the empire were now the Atlantic on the west, the Euphrates on the east, the deserts of Africa, the cataracts of the Nile, and the Arabian deserts on the south, the British Channel, the Rhine, the Danube, and the Black Sea on the north. The only subsequent conquests of importance were those of Britain by Claudius and of Dacia by Trajan. The only independent powers of importance were the Parthians on the east and the Germans on the north. The population of the empire in the time of Augustus has been calculated at 85,000,000.
3. The provinces.—The usual fate of a country conquered by Rome was to become a subject province, governed directly from Rome by officers sent out for that purpose. Sometimes, however, petty sovereigns were left in possession of a nominal independence on the borders or within the natural limits of the province. Augustus divided the provinces into two classes—(1) Imperial; (2) Senatorial; retaining in his own hands, for obvious reasons, those provinces where the presence of a large military force was necessary, and committing the peaceful and unarmed provinces to the senate. The New Testament writers invariably designate the governors of senatorial provinces by the correct title ἀνθύπατοι, proconsuls. Acts 13:7; Acts 18:12; Acts 19:38. For the governor of an imperial province, properly styled “legatus Cæsaris,” the word ἡγεμών (governor) is used in the New Testament. The provinces were heavily taxed for the benefit of Rome and her citizens. They are said to have been better governed under the empire than under the commonwealth, and those of the emperor better than those of the senate.
4. The condition of the Roman empire at the time when Christianity appeared has often been dwelt upon as affording obvious illustrations of St. Paul’s expression that the “fullness of time had come.” Galatians 4:4. The general peace within the limits of the empire, the formation of military roads, the suppression of piracy, the march of the legions, the voyages of the corn fleets, the general increase of traffic, the spread of the Latin language in the West as Greek had already spread in the East, the external unity of the empire, offered facilities hitherto unknown for the spread of a world-wide religion. The tendency, too, of a despotism like that of the Roman empire to reduce all its subjects to a dead level was a powerful instrument in breaking down the pride of privileged races and national religions, and familiarizing men with the truth that “God had made of one blood all nations on the face of the earth.” Acts 17:24, Acts 17:26. But still more striking than this outward preparation for the diffusion of the gospel was the appearance of a deep and wide-spread corruption, which seemed to defy any human remedy.
Romans Epistle to the
Romans, Epistle to the.
1. The date of this epistle is fixed at the time of the visit recorded in Acts 20:3, during the winter and spring following the apostle’s long residence at Ephesus, a.d. 58. On this visit he remained in Greece three months. 2. The place of writing was Corinth. 3. The occasion which prompted it, and the circumstances attending its writing, were as follows:—St. Paul had long purposed visiting Rome, and still retained this purpose, wishing also to extend his journey to Spain. Romans 1:9-13; Romans 15:22-29. For the time, however, he was prevented from carrying out his design, as he was bound for Jerusalem with the alms of the Gentile Christians, and meanwhile he addressed this letter to the Romans, to supply the lack of his personal teaching. Phœbe, a deaconess of the neighboring church of Cenchreæ, was on the point of starting for Rome, ch. Romans 16:2, and probably conveyed the letter. The body of the epistle was written at the apostle’s dictation by Tertius, ch. Romans 16:22; but perhaps we may infer, from the abruptness of the final doxology, that it was added by the apostle himself. 4. The origin of the Roman church is involved in obscurity. If it had been founded by St. Peter, according to a later tradition, the absence of any allusion to him both in this epistle and in the letters written by St. Paul from Rome would admit of no explanation. It is equally clear that no other apostle was the founder. The statement in the Clementines that the first tidings of the gospel reached Rome during the lifetime of our Lord is evidently a fiction for the purposes of the romance. On the other hand, it is clear that the foundation of this church dates very far back. It may be that some of these Romans, “both Jews and proselytes,” present on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:10, carried back the earliest tidings of the new doctrine; or the gospel may have first reached the imperial city through those who were scattered abroad to escape the persecution which followed on the death of Stephen. Acts 8:4; Acts 11:19. At first we may suppose that the gospel was preached there in a confused and imperfect form, scarcely more than a phase of Judaism, as in the case of Apollos at Corinth, Acts 18:25, or the disciples at Ephesus. Acts 19:1-3. As time advanced and better-instructed teachers arrived, the clouds would gradually clear away, till at length the presence of the great apostle himself at Rome dispersed the mists of Judaism which still hung about the Roman church. 5. A question next arises as to the composition of the Roman church at the time when St. Paul wrote. It is more probable that St. Paul addressed a mixed church of Jews and Gentiles, the latter perhaps being the more numerous. These Gentile converts, however, were not for the most part native Romans. Strange as the paradox appears, nothing is more certain than that the church of Rome was at this time a Greek and not a Latin church. All the literature of the early Roman church was written in the Greek tongue. 6. The heterogeneous composition of this church explains the general character of the Epistle to the Romans. In an assemblage so various we should expect to find, not the exclusive predominance of a single form of error, but the coincidence of different and opposing forms. It was therefore the business of the Christian teacher to reconcile the opposing difficulties and to hold out a meeting-point in the gospel. This is exactly what St. Paul does in the Epistle to the Romans. 7. In describing the purport of this epistle we may start from St. Paul’s own words, which, standing at the beginning of the doctrinal portion, may be taken as giving a summary of the contents. ch. Romans 1:17. Accordingly the epistle has been described as comprising “the religious philosophy of the world’s history.” The atonement of Christ is the center of religious history. The epistle, from its general character, lends itself more readily to an analysis than is often the case with St. Paul’s epistles. While this epistle contains the fullest and most systematic exposition of the apostle’s teaching, it is at the same time a very striking expression of his character. Nowhere do his earnest and affectionate nature and his tact and delicacy in handling unwelcome topics appear more strongly than when he is dealing with the rejection of his fellow countrymen the Jews. 8. Internal evidence is so strongly in favor of the genuineness of the Epistle to the Romans that it has never been seriously questioned.
Rome
Rome, the famous capital of the ancient world, is situated on the Tiber at a distance of about 15 miles from its mouth. The “seven hills,” Revelation 17:9, which formed the nucleus of the ancient city stand on the left bank. On the opposite side of the river rises the far higher side of the Janiculum. Here from very early times was a fortress with a suburb beneath it extending to the river. Modern Rome lies to the north of the ancient city, covering with its principal portion the plain to the north of the seven hills, once known as the Campus Martius, and on the opposite bank extending over the low ground beneath the Vatican to the north of the ancient Janiculum. Rome is not mentioned in the Bible except in the books of Maccabees and in three books of the New Testament, viz., the Acts, the Epistle to the Romans and the Second Epistle to Timothy.
1. Jewish inhabitants.—The conquests of Pompey seem to have given rise to the first settlement of Jews at Rome. The Jewish king Aristobulus and his son formed part of Pompey’s triumph, and many Jewish captives and immigrants were brought to Rome at that time. A special district was assigned to them, not on the site of the modern Ghetto, between the Capitol and the island of the Tiber, but across the Tiber. Many of these Jews were made freedmen. Julius Cæsar showed them some kindness; they were favored also by Augustus, and by Tiberius during the latter part of his reign. It is chiefly in connection with St. Paul’s history that Rome comes before us in the Bible. In illustration of that history it may be useful to give some account of Rome in the time of Nero, the “Cæsar” to whom St. Paul appealed, and in whose reign he suffered martyrdom.
2. The city in Paul’s time.—The city at that time must be imagined as a large and irregular mass of buildings unprotected by an outer wall. It had long outgrown the old Servian wall; but the limits of the suburbs cannot be exactly defined. Neither the nature of the buildings nor the configuration of the ground was such as to give a striking appearance to the city viewed from without. “Ancient Rome had neither cupola nor campanile,” and the hills, never lofty or imposing, would present, when covered with the buildings and streets of a huge city, a confused appearance like the hills of modern London, to which they have sometimes been compared. The visit of St. Paul lies between two famous epochs in the history of the city, viz., its restoration by Augustus and its restoration by Nero. The boast of Augustus is well known, “that he found the city of brick, and left it of marble.” Some parts of the city, especially the Forum and Campus Martius, must have presented a magnificent appearance, of which Niebuhr’s “Lectures on Roman History,” ii. 177, will give a general idea; but many of the principal buildings which attract the attention of modern travellers in ancient Rome were not yet built. The streets were generally narrow and winding, flanked by densely-crowded lodging-houses (insul™) of enormous height. Augustus found it necessary to limit their height to 70 feet. St. Paul’s first visit to Rome took place before the Neronian conflagration; but even after the restoration of the city which followed upon that event, many of the old evils continued. The population of the city has been variously estimated. Probably Gibbon’s estimate of 1,200,000 is nearest to the truth. One half of the population consisted, in all probability, of slaves. The larger part of the remainder consisted of pauper citizens supported in idleness by the miserable system of public gratuities. There appears to have been no middle class, and no free industrial population. Side by side with the wretched classes just mentioned was the comparatively small body of the wealthy nobility, of whose luxury and profligacy we learn so much from the heathen writers of the time. Such was the population which St. Paul would find at Rome at the time of his visit. We learn from the Acts of the Apostles that he was detained at Rome for “two whole years,” “dwelling in his own hired house with a soldier that kept him,” Acts 28:16, Acts 28:30, to whom apparently, according to Roman custom, he was bound with a chain, Acts 28:20; Ephesians 6:20; Philippians 1:13. Here he preached to all that came to him, no man forbidding him. Acts 28:30, Acts 28:31. It is generally believed that on his “appeal to Cæsar” he was acquitted, and after some time spent in freedom, was a second time imprisoned at Rome. Five of his epistles, viz., those to the Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, that to Philemon, and the Second Epistle to Timothy, were in all probability written from Rome, the latter shortly before his death, 2 Timothy 4:6, the others during his first imprisonment. It is universally believed that he suffered martyrdom at Rome.
Ruins of Forum at Rome.
3. The localities in and about Rome especially connected with the life of Paul are—(1) The Appian Way, by which he approached Rome. Acts 28:15. [APPII FORUM.] (2) “The palace,” or “Cæsar’s court” (prætorium, Philippians 1:13). This may mean either the great camp of the Prætorian guards which Tiberius established outside the walls on the northeast of the city, or, as seems more probable, a barrack attached to the imperial residence on the Palatine. There is no sufficient proof that the word “prætorium” was ever used to designate the emperor’s palace, though it is used for the official residence of a Roman governor. John 18:28; Acts 23:35. The mention of “Cæsar’s household,” Philippians 4:22, confirms the notion that St. Paul’s residence was in the immediate neighborhood of the emperor’s house on the Palatine. (3) The connection of other localities at Rome with St. Paul’s name rests only on traditions of more or less probability. We may mention especially—(4) The Mamertine prison, or Tullianum, built by Ancus Martius near the Forum. It still exists beneath the church of St. Giuseppe dei Falegnami. It is said that St. Peter and St. Paul were fellow prisoners here for nine months. This is not the place to discuss the question whether St. Peter was ever at Rome. It may be sufficient to state that though there is no evidence of such a visit in the New Testament, unless Babylon in 1 Peter 5:13 is a mystical name for Rome, yet early testimony and the universal belief of the early Church seem sufficient to establish the fact of his having suffered martyrdom there. [PETER.] The story, however, of the imprisonment in the Mamertine prison seems inconsistent with 2 Timothy 4:11. (5) The chapel on the Ostian road which marks the spot where the two apostles are said to have separated on their way to martyrdom. (6) The supposed scene of St. Paul’s martyrdom, viz., the church of St. Paolo alle tre fontane on the Ostian road. To these may be added—(7) The supposed scene of St. Peter’s martyrdom, viz., the church of St. Pietro in Montorio, on the Janiculum. (8) The chapel Domine quo Vadis, on the Appian road, the scene of the beautiful legend of our Lord’s appearance to St. Peter as he was escaping from martyrdom. (9) The places where the bodies of the two apostles, after having been deposited first in the catacombs, are supposed to have been finally buried—that of St. Paul by the Ostian road, that of St. Peter beneath the dome of the famous Basilica which bears his name. We may add, as sites unquestionably connected with the Roman Christians of the apostolic age—(10) The gardens of Nero in the Vatican, not far from the spot where St. Peter’s now stands. Here Christians, wrapped in the skins of beasts, were torn to pieces by dogs, or, clothed in inflammable robes, were burnt to serve as torches during the midnight games. Others were crucified. (11) The Catacombs. These subterranean galleries, commonly from 8 to 10 feet in height and from 4 to 6 in width, and extending for miles, especially in the neighborhood of the old Appian and Nomentan Ways, were unquestionably used as places of refuge, of worship and of burial by the early Christians. The earliest dated inscription in the catacombs is a.d. 71. Nothing is known of the first founder of the Christian Church at Rome. Christianity may, perhaps, have been introduced into the city not long after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost by the “strangers of Rome,” who were then at Jerusalem. Acts 2:10. It is clear that there were many Christians at Rome before St. Paul visited the city. Romans 1:8, Romans 1:13, Romans 1:15; Romans 15:20. The names of twenty-four Christians at Rome are given in the salutations at the end of the Epistle to the Romans. Linus, who is mentioned 2 Timothy 4:21, and Clement, Philippians 4:3, are supposed to have succeeded St. Peter as bishops of Rome.
The Appian Way at Rome.
Appian Way restored. (Fifth mile out of Rome.)
Roof
Roof. [HOUSE.]
Room
Room. The references to “room” in Matthew 23:6; Mark 12:39; Luke 14:7, Luke 14:8; Luke 20:46, signify the highest place on the highest couch round the dinner or supper table—the “uppermost seat,” as it is more accurately rendered in Luke 11:43.
Rose
Rose occurs twice only, viz. in Song of Solomon 2:1; Isaiah 35:1. There is much difference of opinion as to what particular flower is here denoted; but it appears to us most probable that the narcissus is intended. Chateaubriand mentions the narcissus as growing in the plain of Sharon. Roses are greatly prized in the East, more especially for the sake of the rose-water, which is in much request. Dr. Hooker observed seven species of wild roses in Syria.
Rosh
Rosh (head). In the genealogy of Genesis 46:21, Rosh is reckoned among the sons of Benjamin.
Rosh
Rosh, Ezekiel 38:2, Ezekiel 38:3; Ezekiel 39:1, probably a proper name, referring to the first of the three great Scythian tribes of which Magog was the head.
Rosin
Rosin. Properly “naphtha,” as it is both in the LXX and the Vulgate, as well as in the Peshito-Syriac. Pliny mentions naphtha as a product of Babylonia, similar in appearance to liquid bitumen, and having a remarkable affinity to fire.
Rubies
Rubies. Concerning the meaning of the Hebrew words translated “rubies” there is much difference of opinion. Job 28:18; see also Proverbs 3:15; Proverbs 8:11; Proverbs 31:10. Some suppose “coral” to be intended; others “pearl,” supposing that the original word signifies merely “bright in color,” or “color of a reddish tinge.” (The real ruby is a red sapphire, next in value to the diamond. The finest rubies are brought chiefly from Ceylon and Burmah.)
Rue
Rue occurs only in Luke 11:42. The rue here spoken of is doubtless the common Ruta graveolens, a shrubby plant about two feet high, of strong medicinal virtues. It is a native of the Mediterranean coasts, and has been found by Hasselquist on Mount Tabor. The Talmud enumerates rue amongst kitchen-herbs, and regards it as free of tithe, as being a plant not cultivated in gardens. In our Lord’s time, however, rue was doubtless a garden plant, and therefore tithable.
Rue.
Rufus
Ru’fus (red) is mentioned in Mark 15:21 as a son of Simon the Cyrenian. Luke 23:26. (a.d. 29.) Again, in Romans 16:13, the apostle Paul salutes a Rufus whom he designates as “elect in the Lord.” This Rufus was probably identical with the one to whom Mark refers.
Ruhamah
Ru’hamah, or Ruha’mah (having obtained mercy). Hosea 2:1. The name, if name it be, is symbolical, and is addressed to the daughters of the people, to denote that they were still the objects of love and tender compassion.
Rumah
Ru’mah (high), mentioned once only—2 Kings 23:36. It has been conjectured to be the same place as Arumah, Judges 9:41, which was apparently near Shechem. It is more probable that it is identical with Dumah. Joshua 15:52.
Rush
Rush. [REED.]
Ruth
Ruth (a female friend), a Moabitish woman, the wife, first of Mahlon, secondly of Boaz, the ancestress of David and of Christ, and one of the four women who are named by St. Matthew in the genealogy of Christ. A severe famine in the land of Judah induced Elimelech, a native of Bethlehem-ephratah, to emigrate into the land of Moab, with his wife Naomi, and his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. This was probably about the time of Gideon, b.c. 1250. At the end of ten years Naomi, now left a widow and childless, having heard that there was plenty again in Judah, resolved to return to Bethlehem, and her daughter-in-law Ruth returned with her. They arrived at Bethlehem just at the beginning of barley harvest, and Ruth, going out to glean, chanced to go into the field of Boaz, a wealthy man and a near kinsman of her father-in-law, Elimelech. Upon learning who the stranger was, Boaz treated her with the utmost kindness and respect, and sent her home laden with corn which she had gleaned. Encouraged by this incident, Naomi instructed Ruth to claim at the hand of Boaz that he should perform the part of her husband’s near kinsman, by purchasing the inheritance of Elimelech and taking her to be his wife. With all due solemnity, Boaz took Ruth to be his wife, amidst the blessings and congratulations of their neighbors. Their son, Obed, was the father of Jesse, who was the father of David.
Ruth Book of
Ruth, Book of, contains the history of Ruth, as narrated in the preceding article. The main object of the writer is evidently to give an account of David’s ancestors; and the book was avowedly composed long after the time of the heroine. See Ruth 1:1; Ruth 4:7, Ruth 4:17. Its date and author are quite uncertain. Tradition is in favor of Samuel. It is probable that the books of Judges, Ruth, Samuel, and Kings originally formed but one work. The book of Ruth clearly forms part of the books of Samuel, supplying as it does the essential point of David’s genealogy and early family history, and is no less clearly connected with the book of Judges by its opening verse and the epoch to which the whole book relates.
Rye
Rye (Heb. cussemeth) occurs in Exodus 9:32; Isaiah 28:25; in the latter the margin reads “spelt.” In Ezekiel 4:9 the text has “fitches” and the margin “rie.” It is probable that by cussemeth “spelt” is intended. Spelt (Triticum spelta) is grown in some parts of the south of Germany; it differs but slightly from our common wheat (T. vulgare).